Baby Grands Les Miserables Edition
by Serenitychan13
Summary: A series of prompted 1000-word fan fictions featuring all the characters of Les Mis who are now watching over Marius and Cosette from Heaven. There is another fic, a much longer one, in the works to coincide with this little series. Rating for possible themes.
1. Castle

**Disclaimer: **_**I don't own anything. I don't own Les Mis – not the musical, book, or film (but I've seen it three times) so don't sue me! In case you don't know, I do this thing where I do a series of 1000-word ficlets that I call Baby Grands. The "grand" part refers to the thousand words and the "baby" part is because the word "ficlet" brings to mind the image of baby fan fictions. This here comes from the LiveJournal 10prompts table.**_

1 – Castle

Heaven…

Enjolras looked down over a shining cloud at the streets of Paris. Beside him stood a young woman with shining brown waves for hair – he remembered her from life. The two of them looked down upon a man they had both loved in life, one as a brother and one as a mate of the heart. Marius had developed quite a life for himself. It made Enjolras happy, even above the joys of Heaven, to see his comrade living in peace, honor, dignity, and love. At his side, Eponine wore a smile as well. In Heaven, it no longer hurt to see the one she adored living deeply in love with someone else. Here, she could revel in Marius's life with Cosette, at seeing more love in the world.

The two friends watched the lone survivor of the Paris barricade as he played a round of ball with a pack of children in the street. Most of the boys looked as though they could be Gavroche's age, the lot of them playing on the same street the little rebel had led his urchins along. A cockeyed grin followed Enjolras and Eponine – Gavroche knew things, always had. Up here, where everybody's honest, these two had a bit o' feeling going, they did! He had always looked up to the both of them. Enjolras had always put faith in him as the little messenger, and Eponine had always been good for a stolen cake. The little boy continued grinning at their backs, knowing they'd be as stubborn here as they were in life. Of course, he would be right! The little boy looked at the shining angel standing beside him, wagging its tail.

"How long d'you reckon they're gonna keep this up?" he asked the shaggy gray dog.

Furry, floppy ears perked up and the angel looked up at Gavroche.

"Considering we have eternity," he started, plopping down his hindquarters to scratch his shoulder. "We should start taking bets on centuries."

A Golden Retriever, a Pointer, a Beagle, and three Dachshunds trotted by, singing – howling – in holy chorus. Gavroche smiled at his shaggy gray angel and trotted off after them. He rather liked Heaven. Enjolras broke his observant gaze for only a moment to watch the boy and the pack of angel dogs run away in glee. Sensing his change of direction, Eponine followed his gaze and smiled before returning to watch Marius blow a catch spectacularly. She, Eponine, smiled even wider as she watched Cosette, safely on the sidewalk, laughing at her husband. The boys in the street laughed and started a lovely game of keep-away with their ball, causing Marius to chase them. He caught one of the little ones round the waist and proceeded to administer a round of "noogies." The ball went flying – this time, a little girl caught it, shrieking in delight and taking off at a run. Enjolras smiled at the angelic black-and-white cat that hopped up onto the rim of the cloud at his elbow.

"Enjolras, look!" Eponine exclaimed in gladness of her own, setting one hand on his and pointing over the cloud with the other.

The blonde man followed his companion's pointing hand, feeling his cheeks turn red as they had only a few times in life at the touch of the other on his. He quickly saw what she pointed at – the little girl had handed off the ball to Cosette, who looked utterly befuddled. A smile split her pale face and she knocked her bonnet cockeyed as she attempted to run from the pack of small boys. Enjolras grinned as well as Marius encouraged his wife, teaching the rules of "keep-away" by example. The ball disappeared from Cosette's fingers and she swatted her husband with a folding fan as he dashed by. Truly, Enjolras thought, if any of the boys had deserved to survive the barricade, it was Marius. Finally, the game went too far when the ball ran afoul of a woman at a bread cart, who became upset and started to shout. Marius and Cosette hurried over to set things straight.

"I don't believe it – not for a second," commented Grantaire, who had appeared beside the tuxedo cat. "Is he really calling that an apology? And she's _buying it? _That old biddy's had that same bug up her skirts since we were kids! Betcha she even recognizes him!"

Yes, the confrontation did seem to take Cosette's special touch of peace to settle out. Enjolras playfully shoved his best friend in Heaven and tried to lean forward to hide his and Eponine's hands. This did not go unnoticed – not in the realm of eternal truth – but Grantaire only grinned. He had seen this coming since long before the events of the barricade in the rain. Eponine had seen the exchange as well, feeling her face grow warm from something other than a sunbeam. Yes, she had felt something like this before – he had certainly been kind to her in life. Perhaps she had been blind in her own unrequited feeling to something that could have happened? The two of them made eye contact only briefly before simultaneously turning the color of Enjolras's jacket. She broke eye contact first, staring down at the bread woman apparently chewing Marius a new one.

"You know…" said the tuxedo cat, begging an ear scratch off the revolutionary youth's free hand. "Love is holy in Heaven as it is on Earth. Let that sink in for a century or two."

Enjolras gave Eponine a sidelong glance before tilting his head at the angel at his elbow.

"Just one question," he asked the small furry cherub, who cocked both ears and twitched his long tail. Enjolras watched Grantaire scratch the ears of a gigantic red hound. "Why are there dogs everywhere?"

A wheezy laugh escaped the cat, who licked a paw and swiped his whiskers with it.

"Give it about a hundred years," he said in a tone of amused dismissiveness. "They'll explain everything then."


	2. Book

**Disclaimer: **_**Les Mis is still not mine, so don't sue me. I just have a few ideas that I like to write down. Also, if you can point out a Disney reference other than Rapunzel to me, I'll give you a shoutout in my next witty disclaimer!**_

2 – Book

"Mama Cosette?" asked a tiny girl with missing front teeth by the name of Lucille. "Mama Cosette, can you read this book to me, please?"

Cosette gathered up her skirts and sat beside Lucille. The little girl had her thumb in her mouth, a book in her outstretched hand. It was a collection of fairy tales. Two boys tumbled past, fighting over a stick, with Marius chasing behind them shouting for the game to be taken outside. Lucille tugged on Cosette's sleeve and nudged her with the book. Of course Cosette wanted to read to the little girl! She took the book and set it open on her knees. Lucille's apple cheeks swelled in a rather gapped smile and she wiped her wet hand on her dress.

"Lucille, how old are you, little dear?" Cosette asked, motioning the little girl to sit down beside her.

The small hand answered with a gesture, "Five."

"Five already?" asked Cosette in almost-feigned surprise. The little girl was five already? Looking round, she did notice that the children had all changed so much in just the past year. "Well then, little miss, I think it is time that you learnt to read these books all by yourself!"

Up in Heaven, Fantine looked down over the edge of the cloud at her beloved child, now all grown up and with children of her own. Well, not entirely… Either way, by blood or not, these children had a loving, safe place to go. She and Marius had fantastic new family and were doing so much good in the world. Fantine looked over and Jean Valjean, seated on a bench with a large Afghan hound angel beside him. She extended a hand to him and he approached the cloud's edge as well, looking over at the children (yes, they were still children to him) who had been given into his care. The silky-haired dog wagged its curly tail and gave the two an angelic doggy grin. Valjean smiled in much the same way Fantine did.

Lucille sat with Cosette, snuggled up against her side and looking over her elbow at the words on the page. She carefully followed Cosette's finger, repeating the words as they went along, telling each other the story of Rapunzel. Every so often, Cosette paused, quizzing the child on which letter was which and what combinations of letters made what sounds. Lucille was a fast learner, the story keeping her engaged and making her truly _want _to learn how to read. Two more of the small girls in Marius and Cosette's care approached, their ears perked as well at the sound of their most beloved story. One girl chewed the ear of a stuffed rabbit while the other dragged a doll by one hand.

"Lucille, do you think maybe you can read this section for our friends?" Cosette urged the small girl, carefully helping her set the book on her own knees. "Let's start right here, where the prince starts talking."

The little girl followed Cosette's gesture again.

"And the… p… prince… call- called up the toe… no, _tower_," Lucille tried the first sentence, frowning as she struggled with it. She looked up to Cosette, who smiled encouragingly but would not read the book for her. "The prince called up the tower!"

Cosette smiled brightly, nudging the other two little girls who obligingly smiled as well, the one with the rabbit cheering. Lucille tried the next couple of sentences. Yes, the first few words were a bit halting, but as she got more confident, her voice got stronger. Over Lucille's head, Cosette caught Marius's eye and he joined them on the step, gladly listening to the story of Rapunzel. If anyone noticed a few mispronunciations here or there, they didn't show it. Their very own little Lucille was the first girl they – he and Cosette – had taken in to learn to read all by herself! The girl with the rabbit demanded Lucille hold the book up because she couldn't see the picture! Beaming, Lucille did so – never in her five years of life could she remember being so very proud of herself. One of the two boys, having won ownership of the stick, sidled over and flopped down on the step next to Marius.

"Papa Marius?" he asked, sticking his tongue out at the little girl who shushed him. "She's reading it wrong!"

Marius frowned at the boy, not wanting anything to rain on Lucille's big moment.

"How do you mean, Ranier?" he asked, his eyes letting the boy know his answer better be careful.

Ranier leaned on the stick he had fought for and won.

"I thought it was a thief who went and rescued Rapunzel!" he declared, gesturing at the book and Lucille.

Fantine and Jean Valjean smiled at their children and their children's children, then at each other. How would Marius react to that one? The boy Ranier looked up at him expectantly, still pointing at the book. The two little girls with their little friends had started quietly ignoring the story, watching the mini-drama with Ranier and Marius. Cosette pinched her husband behind Lucille's back, having overheard the conversation. He got the message and turned back to Ranier with a ready answer.

"You see, Ranier," he started, gaining confidence from the 'you better get this right' look in his wife's eyes. "That's because Mama Cosette tells it a little bit differently."

This seemed to satisfy the boy, who then turned his rapt attention back to the five-year-old with the intent of telling her the 'real' story at another time. The still-a-little-shaky reading went on, Lucille still looking to Cosette for help with some of her words. Marius reached back to take his wife's hand, loving this moment with their odd little family. Yes, it had been a sad day when the doctor said that Cosette might not be able to have a child of her own. However, if anyone asked Marius his opinion, he would say that's all right.


	3. Simple Things

**Disclaimer: **_**Les Mis is still not mine. I'm not quite in the mood for a witty disclaimer at the moment, so why not let this particular Baby Grand speak for itself? Here, since I forgot to say last time round, we have number 3 in the LiveJournal 10prompts community:**_

3 – Simple Things

It really was the small things in life that made Cosette's days. This morning, a rare morning, Marius had awakened before her and they had a lingering good-morning. She tumbled out of bed and reached for her housecoat. Marius tripped off to have a bath, his hair sticking out in all directions as he scratched his head. With her hair still in its nighttime braid, Cosette left the bedroom with her housecoat pulled tight round her and followed the hallway to the little girls' room. Leaning her ear on the door, she could hear no mischief and could thus assume she was right on time.

"Bonjour, darlings!" she announced brightly as she opened the door. Four heads disappeared under nests of blankets. "Come now, it's morning – time to start another day!"

Cosette crossed the room and opened the curtains, letting the soft morning sunlight spill across the hardwood floor and rug covering it. The four wriggling lumps in the neat little beds complained under their covers. A small hand retrieved a dropped rabbit before disappearing. A little blue eye peeked out from under the blanket-heap closest to Cosette. When she caught the gaze, the cover returned and complaints turned to giggles. The giggles were infectious and soon the four little bed-bumps had to sit up to see what sort of adventures the new morning brought.

"Mama Cosette, is it time for breakfast?" asked Lucille, tugging at her pillow to hide the book beneath it. "Are we having eggs?"

Helping tiny Aveline, only three, down out of bed and replacing the doll on the pillow, Cosette smiled over at Lucille.

"Not yet, love," she answered, turning to help Aveline's sister, seven-year-old Doriane, down from her bed as well. "I need to see neatly-made beds and clean, brushed hair before we all go down for breakfast!"

Eight-year-old Marguerite yawned and Cosette removed her knuckle from her mouth, aiding her in leaving her bed as well. Lucille, Marguerite, and Doriane trooped over to the collective vanity table. They took turns at the basin before taking up their respective hair brushes and elbowing for space. Cosette had Aveline by the hand, helping her to wash her face in the basin and listening to the little girl squeal about the cold water. She issued a warning when she heard the sound of a slap and caught Doriane's hand before she could pinch back. Aveline needed help brushing her hair, so Cosette settled on the side of one bed, scooped the little one up, and started taming the rats' nests resulting from sleep.

"Girls, let's see more brushing, less pinching!" Cosette admonished the three at the mirror. "The sooner everyone is clean and ready, the sooner we go down to warm eggs!"

This seemed to light the fire under all three behinds and they rushed through the rest of their brushing, tying in ribbons and shoving on the way to the closet for dresses.

"I'm right glad to see she's doing so well for herself," Eponine up in heaven said to Fantine, the two women watching Cosette from the cloud. "That's your girl, isn't it?"

Fantine smiled down at Cosette and the little girls, nodding her head 'yes' before smiling back at Eponine. It really hadn't been her fault, the things that had happened when they were children. Neither one of them had any control over that terrible situation at all – really, none of them had. She reached out and took the younger woman by the hand. The agreement remained unspoken – whatever, if any, ill will there might have ever been had gone away. True, Eponine had been in love with Marius, but she truly bore Cosette no malice – he was never hers to lose in the first place. And especially now, in Heaven on high, it truly was her, Eponine's, triumph to see these two people doing good things in the world. Marius had survived the barricade so he could be with Cosette. In their love, the spirits of everyone who loved them lived on.

And on Earth, Cosette had her hands full. Four little girls bounded around her on their collective way down to dinner. She and Marius had been running things this way for a while – both of them readied their respective crews and they met for the new day over breakfast. The boys and Marius waited in varying degrees of decorum and patience for Cosette and the girls. Promises of fresh eggs had everyone on the edges of their seats. Excited giggles preceded the new arrivals and Cosette had to remind everyone to walk, not run, to the table. Cosette settled beside Marius after helping Aveline into her chair, the one with the extra cushion in it.

Eponine and Fantine once again smiled as they watched Marius lead his family in a blessing over breakfast. Two of the boys elbowed each other in their haste to be the first into the eggs. The girls settled rather quickly and began to help each other take a baguette apart. It wasn't the neatest cutting job, but they were proud of themselves for managing it anyway, passing pieces round the table. Marius leaned over to help one of the boys with a pitcher of milk. Christophe, nine, protested that he could handle it, but Marguerite helpfully reminded him of last week's accident. Scowling, he allowed Marius to do the pouring for him – stoneware could be a bit unwieldy.

The two women in Heaven watched over the ones they held dear as the chaos that was breakfast for twelve unfolded. Ranier and Christophe had a penchant for squashing their cheese into funny shapes, to Marius's amusement and Cosette's chagrin. Aveline tugged at Doriane's sleeve and, failing to make herself heard with a whisper, announced quite loudly her need to potty. Doriane asked to be excused, Colette agreed, and the two girls toddled from the dining room. Lucille seemed to be into it with ten-year-old Fabien, exchanging occasional kicks under the table. Ah, yes… Breakfast as usual.


	4. Boat

**Disclaimer: **_**I still don't own Les Mis. I got highlights from the original cast recording last night, but I left it in my friend's car. I'll be listening to that as soon as school starts! Even though this disclaimer isn't terribly witty, here's the shout-out I promised! AliceRose_Loves to HUG guessed that one of the Disney references in another chapter was Flynn Rider! She was right! There's still another Disney reference in that same chapter! Here we have the fourth installment of these ten Baby Grands!**_

4 - Boat

It had rained for a good three days straight. The streets of Paris ran with mostly water, but also with a few other assorted… things. From the smell, it was probably a combination of mud, spilled drinks from the local pubs, and the substances produced by livestock. By now, the rain had stopped, but the cobblestones still had miniature little rivers flowing round them. The children in Cosette and Marius's care, plus the other children living round them, had ants in their pants. As soon as all parents involved gave consent or something close to it, they all trooped out to play again. Rainier and the other boys had spent the three days indoors creating little boats to float through the rivers in the streets. The girls squealed with delight as they chased the boats in packs down the sidewalks. Today's game would definitely be pirates!

Up in Heaven, Cosette and Marius's loved ones looked down in golden light over the edge of the still-soggy cloud. Jean Valjean actually laughed out loud at a small pile-up of children involving a flying shoe and a rather upset cat. The cat slinked away as some of the boys retrieved tiny Aveline's shoe from under a cart, the woman selling cider giving them a fond smile. Fantine hid a laugh behind her hand at Marguerite doing her best impression of a pirate, swaggering round on the sidewalk. The little boats flew down the sidewalk current at, for their size, breakneck speed, followed by happy children. Eponine grinned at the little girls as well, still glancing sideways at Enjolras. Grantaire approached and slung his arms round both their shoulders.

"Look at them go!" he cried happily, pulling his friends closer to the edge to watch Lucille try and get Christophe in a headlock. "I think the little one has the makings of a fine pirate!"

In her best pirate voice, Doriane bellowed "Belay that!" then lost steam on her order and followed it with "Do somethin' else!" The children laughed and began stomping in the puddles, trying to soak each other as much as possible. Cosette had come out on the front porch, vainly trying to encourage her girls and boys to behave like ladies and gentlemen. No dice – they continued to holler and push each other, still chasing their boats and each other through the streets. Rainier had apparently commandeered a hat from somewhere, declaring himself captain. The merchant responsible for the hat kept a watchful eye to see that no damage was done – he trusted the lad to bring it back. Fabien went screaming by, brandishing a stick with his wrecked boat in one hand, a cow having sunk it. This time, Cosette had to get up and try to call a halt.

"Fabien, you really must be careful with that stick!" she tried hard not to yell, calling over the heads of the other children. "And Marguerite, please try to be ladylike in a sword-fight – no kicking!"

Back up on the heavenly cloud, the barricade boys plus Gavroche had gathered around Enjolras and Eponine, shooting each other knowing looks and placing bets on the pirate outcome. So far, the odds seemed to be on the side of the girls. There might have been more boys and they might be older, but the girls, with the exception of little Aveline, were far more organized! Marguerite, the eldest, actually might have made a fine fencer in the opinions of Eponine and Grantaire. Enjolras and Gavroche, on the other hand, had to hold out for the boys until Christophe poked Doriane with his stick. The seven-year-old girl promptly took the stick from him and administered a sound thrashing.

"Christophe! Doriane!" called the warning voice of Marius – word of the commotion had reached him upstairs in his office. "Let's bring it down a bit!"

The sole survivor of the failed barricade surveyed the children in his care. On the one hand, it did his heart so much good to see them playing safely (once they put those sticks down) in the streets. However, the liquid running in the streets themselves made several of his other organs squish uncomfortably. No, he didn't really _remember _Jean Valjean taking him from the barricade or the trip through the sewer described by that awful Thenardier bloke. Even so, he swallowed hard at the swirling watery mess in the streets. Maybe it was that cow up the street with the new baby – more _smell _in the air than usual… Something about this whole business made him want to go back inside and stay there until things dried up. Yes, that was it – the streets just smelled worse than usual.

Enjolras, Grantaire, Gavroche – all the boys Marius couldn't help but think of – looked down from Heaven on their old friend. They watched Cosette finally pick up her skirt and stride out into the street to get a handle on the situation. Smiles lit on heavenly faces again as muddy, wet children swarmed their Mama Cosette and Papa Marius. Bad smells, fleeting memories, wet streets or whatever, Marius could not ignore five-year-old Lucille splashing up to him with outstretched arms. Smiling almost in spite of himself, Marius lifted the dripping child into his arms, uncaring of the stains on his suit. Fabien and Christophe tumbled past with Doriane in hot pursuit. It had taken both of them to wrest the stick from her possession. Aveline toddled after her sister, tugging on Captain Rainier's hand.

Cosette, however, had not missed the inexplicable trepidation on her Marius's face, nor had Eponine up in Heaven. While Jean Valjean and Fantine watched the children go squishing into the house to kick off muddy shoes and peel out of wet socks, the younger woman watched the couple. Marius smiled brightly, helping the smaller ones out of soggy coats and shawls, but something stung. Even up in Heaven, Eponine's heart hurt to see the man she had loved on Earth in pain.

In the street, boats floated away.


End file.
